Maynard James Keenan — the voice of Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer — is adding another venture to his ever-expanding footprint in Northern Arizona’s Verde Valley. On September 4, Keenan opens Queen B Sushi at 816 N. Main St. in Old Town Cottonwood, a new restaurant that extends the artist-friendly world he and his wife, Jennifer Keenan, have built around their Queen B Vinyl Café.
Over the past two decades, Keenan has helped turn the Verde Valley into an unlikely wine and culture destination. In 2024, the couple expanded Queen B Vinyl Café to include a café and coffee roaster; today it stands as Northern Arizona’s exclusive Record Store Day location and an artist-friendly venue that has recently hosted the likes of Khemmis and Author & Punisher.
Keenan traces his love of sushi back decades:
“Although I’ve been enjoying sushi since my days in Boston, circa 1987, my first Japanese tour wasn’t until 2000 with A Perfect Circle. It was an eye opening and mind-blowing experience. While there, I picked up these amazing titanium and hard wood travel chopsticks from Snow Peak. And I’ve carried them with me ever since. Last year I ran into Janeane Garofalo at the Chelsea in NYC. She was saying to David Cross and Dave Hill, ‘I haven’t seen Maynard in several years but one thing I remember is that he used to carry chopsticks in his pocket.’ At which point I reached into my pocket and pulled them out. Twenty-five years I’ve been carrying these chopsticks. That’s how much I love sushi.”
– Maynard James Keenan
Queen B Sushi is led by Culinary Director Chef Brett Vibber, whose résumé spans Roka Akor’s London, Hong Kong, and U.S. locations. Vibber built the team around two key hires: Chef Chuhiro “Thomas” Kato, who trained under Nobu Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills and Masaharu Morimoto in New York, and Chef Sheridan “Sher” Chase, an Arizona native who built his career in kitchens from California to Texas before returning home.
The concept came together almost by accident. When the Keenans were developing the menu for Queen B Vinyl Café, they shelved the idea of a full sushi program, assuming they wouldn’t find the right chef in a town of 12,000. Vibber, already on staff, turned out to be exactly that chef.
Fittingly, the restaurant will pour a rotating selection of Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards wines. Keenan has spent more than two decades building Northern Arizona’s wine industry, including a successful campaign for the Verde Valley’s AVA (American Viticultural Area) certification in 2021. His footprint in the area began with the Caduceus Cellars Tasting Room in Jerome and has since grown to include the Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria and the Caduceus Cellars Hilltop Facility, a seven-acre complex on the site of Cottonwood’s former Masonic Lodge.
Queen B Sushi opens September 4 at 816 N. Main St., Old Town Cottonwood, Arizona. Reservations are available now.
More info:
QueenBSushi.com | Instagram | Facebook
